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Recommendations for Historical Type Thrillers?

S

Stacey_Reads

New Member
Hi Everyone,
I am looking for some recommendations for Historical Type Thrillers.
I just read the Da Vinci code and was a little dissappointed but would love to read something else in the same type of Genre as I did enjoy that aspect of the book.

I'd like to read a book by another author (other than Dan Brown)

Please help!
Thanks,
Stacey
 
Try The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It's a very good historical thriller about a bunch of semi-misfit type characters in turn of the century New York. They're led by a doctor who is also a leading psychologist of his day. There's also a couple of the last uncorrupted cops in the city, an orphan who got a second chance from the doctor, and a pretty cool lady who is totally fearless. All of them are trying to catch a murderer who is running amok in the city. Caleb Carr does a great job with balancing setting, characterization and plot to make it a really fun read.
 
Caleb Carr has written a couple of historical thrillers. I read The Alienist years ago for a college class and enjoyed it. The Angel of Darkness is a follow up which I have not read.

These are actual historical thrillers though. They're set around the turn of the century in New York City. They are really nothing at all like The Da Vinci Code, which really isn't that historical.

I don't know if this is helpful at all, but I hope it is.
 
I haven't read it yet, but surely The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova would appeal to what you're looking for.
 
I just finished The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. It's more of a mystery novel, but you might find it thrilling: the Fireside Poets launch an investigation into several murders based on the works of Dante Aligheiri. Although some sections of the book aren't what I would call "lively", the mystery is nicely developed and the killer's identity is a surprise.

I read The Historian too. It reads a lot like The Da Vinci Code only the characters are more interesting :D.
 
I enjoy Janet Gleeson's novels ("the grenadillo box", "the serpent in the garden"). They are set in in 18th century England and always related to some form of art. They are murder mysteries, but I'd say the plot is secondary. It's more about the atmosphere and way of living, so they are quite slow. Not the right thing if you are looking fir action.
 
Better than The Alienist, other Caleb Carr, is The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. It's a book that should be much better known.

To me, Carr's books have the feel of contemporary characters and stories 'set' in an earlier time, so they ring very falsely in dialogue and character's movitations and actions. The Quincunx is set in Victorian London, very believably drawn in all its filth and glory. The structure of book is facinating.
 
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. It is a novel about the grail again, but a million times better that the Da Vinci Code!
 
RolandOfGilead said:
I personally thought The Rule of Four was better than the Da Vinci Code, so you might try that.
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Rule of Four was okay, imho, but i found that Caldwell spent more time trying to convince me that he'd really been to Princeton than he did in convincing me of the substance in the 'mystery'.

The Historian was better, I thought, if a little slow to start.

I'll second the motion for Foucault's Pendulum, though. It's like DVC, but way better.
 
MJMoore said:
I would certainly recommend Labyrinth (Kate Mosse).. everyone I know who read it really enjoyed it. :)
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I didn't, though I wanted to. :( I thought the first two-thirds were quite good, but the last third was a huge let down in almost every way. It's a book badly in need of another couple of drafts, and you can practically pinpoint the moment that Mosse got bored of writing it. Plenty of people have enjoyed it, so maybe you will too, but as far as I'm concerned, it's best steered clear of.

I'd agree with the recommendation for Foucault's Pendulum, though. :)
 
Rule of Four was okay, imho, but i found that Caldwell spent more time trying to convince me that he'd really been to Princeton than he did in convincing me of the substance in the 'mystery'.
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I couldn't agree more about The Rule of Four, and I agree with the recommendation of Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. You might want, also, to try Neal Stephenson's The Cryptonomicon. One of the two related plots revolves around codes, WWII, and a literal mountain of gold.
 
daryl? said:
I didn't, though I wanted to. :( I thought the first two-thirds were quite good, but the last third was a huge let down in almost every way. It's a book badly in need of another couple of drafts, and you can practically pinpoint the moment that Mosse got bored of writing it. Plenty of people have enjoyed it, so maybe you will too, but as far as I'm concerned, it's best steered clear of.

I'd agree with the recommendation for Foucault's Pendulum, though. :)
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Well it would be a boring world if we all liked the same thing! :)
 
I just finished Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts this morning. I apologize for not having written my review for it yet, so I can't articulate much, but I liked it. He is, over the past few years, my favorite author.

edit: I guess I could tell you that it is about Nazi Germany. Not nearly as historical as the other books listed....but it was well before I was born.
 
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